Color help - Large room, low natural light, brick fireplace
nuhouse10
6 years ago
Looking for color suggestions for this room. It's in a 1890s home but this portion was built in the 1980s. We primed it white and now we are stuck.
Features:
- Brick fireplace (close up of brick/mortar below). Do not want to paint.
- Black and White Vinyl tile: Do not like it but saving for wood flooring
- Stained Glass in Door
- Bay Window (on left)
- Leads into kitchen
- Windows on left face West - Windows at far end of room face North.
- Surrounded by trees - little light. This photo was taken on a very sunny day in the winter when there were no leaves on trees. In summer, it's much darker.
What we have tried:
- Bought house and it was painted bright yellow. Yuck
- grays - light grays seem too dingy or cold (ie: sw repose gray), darker grays just look blah (ie: rockport way too dark, sw mindful just 'eh', sw requisite too brown and looked dark)
- Off white walls looked dingy
Our goal is warm, cozy, relaxing but not modern/contemportary. Out the back window is a woods and mountain. The house was sold as a "folk victorian farmhouse". It might have looks farmhouse-y at one point and we wouldn't mind it again but they decorated in the 1990s and never did again until we purchased the home. We are trying to restore it to a more farmhouse/country/rustic feel. Our ideal would be wide plank floors and beams in this room...but that is for the future. It's currently a "tool room" as we work to re-do the rest of the house of this fixer-upper but want it to be more than just a place to store the tools. It's off the kitchen and has access to the main bathroom and a porch door and a patio door. We go through the room often, so it needs to be "usable".
Any suggestions? My husband thinks deep jewel tones or a deep blue-green might work to make it cozy and comfy. I wouldn't mind but I think that would be too dark. I tried all these lighter colors and they just make the fire place look so "blah".
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Comments (9)
Cara Lewis-Watts
6 years agolast modified: 6 years agoWhat about a very soft greyish green color to compliment the lovely red brick of the fireplace? Thinking something like Sea Salt.
I'd ditch the black rugs and bring in some pattern with a traditional rug, reflecting the brick colors and the pale greens.
Fabulous over your new hardwood!
Cara Lewis-Watts
6 years agolast modified: 6 years agoALso- is there a coffee table, and is the couch turned that way to face a TV? I don't love the placement. You at least need another accent chair for a cozier inviting feel and ease of conversation. The current one is pretty lost.
Finally, I don't love the fan. I think a semi-flush mount would be better.
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Comments (10)We have Wales Green by Bm at 75% strength in our hallway and laundry room which get little natural light and it looks pretty and perky and changes according to what lights are on or not. Sometimes it looks very pale and other times more colorful. It has a real yellow component to it. I think we could have gone full strength but I chickened out. It is not a dull green and adds a liveliness which I love. In our last house we used a light yellow (not gold toned at all), and that looked really good in our upstairs hallway which also got little natural light. It looked great in the living spaces that did get a lot of light as well. Both colors are cheerful and versatile without being too saturated or strong....See Morepaint help with low light room
Comments (14)tibbrix, i'm going to try it. would have never ever thought of going a dark color, but I, like bestyears, am going crazy trying to find the right grey. the funny thing is, in my living room where the imperial gray is, I have the accent wall in kingsport gray, with a white fireplace. It looks great. and i think that will tie the 2 rooms together. I'll do the crown molding and base molding in white (have any suggestions on what white to use?) Thanks so much, i'll let you know how it turns out....See MoreHelp! Low-E windows changing wall paint colors
Comments (19)I posted a follow-up on the other thread where I commented and decided to post here for anyone else who does a search for problems from the green reflected light from Low-E glass. This is a long post but it captures the relevant information about what I tried to eliminate the green. PART I: Our great room faces west and has three large patio windows (8' tall and 12' wide) made of Low-E glass which cast a green light inside the house. The ceiling height in the dining nook and by the patio doors is 10', and with the vaulted ceiling is app. 13' at the highest point in the middle of the room. Outside the great room, is a covered patio which is about 10' high. Since I know how hard it may be to track what I described, I included our floorplan showing where the sun is in the afternoon. As the light enters the room the color changes. In the morning, the great room looks grey and dingy so I leave the warm 3000K LED lights on. In the afternoon, on the wall with the door to the laundry/garage (yellow arrow), from floor level to about 8', Creamy is light creamy yellow with a greenish hue. And then, from 8'-13' it looks less green and has more of a sickly grey tinge. On the wall in the kitchen (the other yellow arrow) the color is darker but has the same green look to it. I invited our new painter over so that he could see what I've been talking about since I'm trying to decide which is the best color for this space. I showed him the wall directly across from the patio doors (yellow arrow). He said he could sort of see what I meant about the wall color looking like it has a hint of green Then I opened the patio door, all the natural light flooded in and the color was much brighter - the way that I expected Creamy to be. He was shocked, saying he'd never before seen the color of walls change as much. So, it's not just the paint color. It is the color, the light(s), the direction of the sun and, in our case, the Low-E glass. PART II: So now that I know that the Low-E glass we chose is definitely casting a green on our rug, furniture and walls. I've been trying other colors that are still light and bright without picking up the green. I tried SW Panda White, but it still had the dingy green/grey. Then I tried SW Downy and it is nearly identical to SW Panda White but has a bit more pink or peach. But it doesn't look pink/peach. It is also not nearly as muddy, dingy or green as Panda White. And it actually looks Creamy!...See MoreHelp choosing wall color to compliment fireplace brick
Comments (34)Not loving the inconsistent look of this limewash, especially in a dark room with no overhead lighting. You are going to have 3 different grays - the limewash, the stone hearth, and the walls? You may end up wondering what is not quite right, like the people who do the all white kitchens and end up with slightly different shades of white on the cabinets, countertops and backsplashes who can’t figure out how to make it all work together. I would do the fireplace the same color as the trim, which will brighten up this room which needs a lighting boost, and create a bit more consistency. Also, using Romabio on indoor brick is a waste of money. Plain old masonry paint works perfectly indoors....See More
nuhouse10
6 years agoCara Lewis-Watts
6 years agolast modified: 6 years agonuhouse10
6 years agonuhouse10
6 years agonosoccermom
6 years ago
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